Moving to Colorado, Greenhouse help

[Dr. Treez84]

I am about to purchase some land in Colorado and plan to run outdoors in a greenhouse next year. I have about 30k to spend on the greenhouse but would like to stay well under that if possible. Being that colorado stays a lot colder I was hoping to get some advice on different heating systems and maybe design preferences. I found one online i was thinking about ordering http://store.rimolgreenhouses.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1819 and getting the 34x96 ft greenhouse. I have enough family to be a caregiver to fit enough plants to make it worth it. My only concern is the whole greenhouse being heated evenly. and how many BTUs it will require to heat the whole thing. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated... I have grown outdoors in California for a few years but obviously the cold has never really been a concern so i'm new to the ideas of a greenhouse. Thank you

 

[Dr. Treez84]

Also, to the growers who have dealt with the cold before... which strains did you find worked best? would you use clones or seeds etc...

 

[Ibex]

Sorry I cant help much with the greenhouse other than it has to be "an enclosed, locked place" and I imagine a greenhouse covers that.

I can however tell you that you will need some good insulation as it is currently -1F just north of Denver.

Here is the pdf if you are interested

http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/filings/2011-2012/30Final.pdf


Another thing to consider is plant count and weight limits. As a 21+ you get 6 plants and one oz. Standard red card is 6 plants 2oz but that can be recommended higher by your Dr.

If youre serious about this, which is sounds like you are, I would order seed stock and pick out my own keeper phenos and then run clones from there. As im sure you are aware coming from cali and all, we get alot of BS strain names, PM, bugs, etc on the warehouse sold clones in Denver. Some places like Boulder you cannot buy clones. Craigslist has clone options as well as finding a local grower and taking cuttings. Many people (myself included) give them away for free.

 

[Bugeye]

I grow at 7600 feet in CO in a 20X14' single pane polycarbonate greenhouse. It is good for 3 seasons only and the end of October first week of November can be challenging to keep warm enough! I only have 20 amps of service and no gas capabilities. I use two electric heaters until forecast goes below 40 degrees and then have to add a thermoostat controlled 50,000 BTU propane heater. I can easily go through a 20 gallon tank in one day if temps in the 20s.

I'm jealous of your greenhouse plans! With triple panes you can go 4 seasons but I'm sure it will be expensive with the 10 below zero we've had this week! The key to even heat distribution is to keep your circulation fans on low at night. As for what you need, it will depend on the services you have available. Natural gas will probably be the cheapest option. The company selling the greenhouse should be able to tell you what you need for this climate zone.

Just as important as heat is here, so is cooling. I found my bud density really decreased with use of a 30% shade cloth. Without the shade cloth I couldn't keep my temps below 100F and I found that the THC quality wasn't as high as hoped. Next year I am adding a mist fan which I hope will take the edge off. I don't have enough water supply for swamp cooler solution but this may be what you need to build into one wall.

I've had poor luck with Sativas because I can't maintain good enough conditions to finish most of them. Stains that do well in mountain areas of the world seem to do the best for me. Kushes do well for me and I always favor plants that can take more extreme temp ranges and are mold tolerant. I had an LA Confidential that was just off the charts last year. Mold is not usually a problem here, but last summer we saw lots of powdery mildew everywhere in the woods with all the August rain and cooler temps. I will be running hydrogen peroxide in my misters to reduce threat.

Good luck with the move, you'll love it here!

 

[Dr. Treez84]

thank you both for the advice. To Ibex i have read the laws and have a bunch of family there as well. This year i will be growing from seed because i dont have time to grow my clones and take cuts. So this year i plan to grow a few different strains and then pick the best mothers to take my cuts that way i can run my F1s this winter and next year. Between me and my girlfriend we will easily be able to cover the 48 plants i plan to grow this coming spring without having to get the better licensing in the coming year. I like the idea of clones and have a family friend to meet with when i move who can possibly give me good cuts, I just try to shy away from random cuts because you dont really know how the mothers were plus the bug problems etc... not sure if im aloud to meet with you from the website being new?

To Bugeye thank you for the advice and input. Nice to hear from someone with personal experience. I will be living in southern colorado in the mountains but by one of the warmest citys in Colorado. I have electric on my property already which is going to be a huge help ecspecially going through 20gallons of propane in one day! I plan to put 3 100,000BTU heaters in my greenhouse because I'm afraid to buy the 300,000BTU heater and then have one side overally warm while having the rest lacking. I cant imagine it getting over 100F in colorado but youve actually had it happen so i'll start planning for that as well. I honestly hadnt really put a though into it thinking it wouldnt get near warm enough to be a problem. Also, that being said, I was wondering about how much warmer your greenhouse stays on average vs outside temperature? Also do u grow into the ground or use grow bags?

I actually grew some LA Confidential in Cali last year and it turned out phenomenal so i love the idea that it would work well in Colorado. My plan is to now start researching as much as i can on colder strains and early finishers as to avoid the cold days of oct/nov while finishing. I'll post some pictures in a little bit.

I want to start my seeds inside so i can veg them from mid march to when its 14hr of sunlight which appears to me mid may(the property im purchasing has a seperate 3600sq ft building I plan to use as a dry area/veg building). I want to just use 50 or 100gallon grow pots in the green house spacing each plant by 6feet from middle to middle caging and toping them accordingly. 4 rows of 12 48 plants. Do you think that will be enough room? I'm all about lower numbers and bigger plants because they can produce an equal ratio to more smaller plants if done right...

 

[Dr. Treez84]

pinapple
the garden i was working on (wasnt my set up, would of changed a few things)
other pineapple

 

[Dr. Treez84]

LA Confidentail
LA confidential budding
Banana kush
concentrates

 

[Bugeye]

You won't have any trouble finishing with that set up. I don't grow on your scale so my girls get way more dirt than they need. Two large dirt bays and the rest in large containers. Just to make things easier on watering needs, which I do manually.

My 100 plus temps are inside and I exchange lots of air. Temp differential inside to out is usually 15 degrees for me on sunny days. Rare that outside temps go above 90 at my altitude (central Colorado).

i've got 4' spacing in spots and it gets crowded! As such, I don't need to start mine until early April or it gets ridiculous. Possible addition going on this spring so that might help.

 

[bcguy01]

Lots of good info in here

 

[jessica d]

double barrel wood stove will make it happen. gd luck

 

[Dr. Treez84]

double barrel wood stove? seriously? It wouldn't put off smoke or anything that could harm the plants? their much cheaper so it would be ideal... saw a couple videos online of them working... just makes a me nervous

 

[Bugeye]

Wood stove will work and if vented properly it won't smoke out your greenhouse. BUT, seriously more work to keep you temp where you want it, they have to be tended. Also will take up valuable floor space. A pellet stove would require a lot less tending but will also take up that floor space. Just put a 40,000 BTU per hour pellet stove in my home right before the cold front hit and it is AWESOME!!!

 

[SUBZ3R0]

absolutely amazing plants trees84 beautiful pink pistils and the purple is just purp props

 

[Dr. Treez84]

Think I'm probably just better off hanging the three 100k BTU heaters evenly across the top then. Don't really want to give up unnecessary floor space and ideally would want to choose the temp I'm leaving it at without consistent tending. Just going to have a thermostat control them and when in gets down to around 55-50F inside the greenhouse have them kick on so it never reaches 45 or under.

And thank you sub, a lot of love when into those babies. All organic everything, they smoked and looked beautiful after I trimmed them all up. Wish I had some pictures of the finished nugs. The calics held the purple so well they looked amazing with all the inner leaf gone.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Rollitup mobile app

 

[bigbluesky]

Think I'm probably just better off hanging the three 100k BTU heaters evenly across the top then. Don't really want to give up unnecessary floor space and ideally would want to choose the temp I'm leaving it at without consistent tending. Just going to have a thermostat control them and when in gets down to around 55-50F inside the greenhouse have them kick on so it never reaches 45 or under.

And thank you sub, a lot of love when into those babies. All organic everything, they smoked and looked beautiful after I trimmed them all up. Wish I had some pictures of the finished nugs. The calics held the purple so well they looked amazing with all the inner leaf gone.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Rollitup mobile app

I am in the Front Range and have a 'beta' greenhouse/growhouse that I am running currently. My greenhouse is a small converted shed that runs about 95% on solar electric and solar thermal.

You ought to look at a heat sink: really simple and cheap technology that can help you deal with the spikes in both high and low temperatures. The idea is pretty simple and the resources to make it happen are all online and inexpensive: you need a resevoir of water that acts as a heat sink. Multiple options here, including 'hurricaine' water storage bladders, bath tub water storage bags, and cisterns. Then you need a radiator, some pumps, a fan, and some pvc, and some controls. The system works like this: during a sunny day when your greenhouse is rapidly heating up too hot, your system kicks on at set temperature and the water in the resevoir cools the air in the greenhouse. It also has the benefit of then storing the heat. At night when the temperature drops, the thermostat kicks on again, but this time the water is warmer than the air, and the heat is transferred. Again, really simple, robust, old, cheap technology to do this.

 

[joe macclennan]

Wood stove will work and if vented properly it won't smoke out your greenhouse. BUT, seriously more work to keep you temp where you want it, they have to be tended. Also will take up valuable floor space. A pellet stove would require a lot less tending but will also take up that floor space. Just put a 40,000 BTU per hour pellet stove in my home right before the cold front hit and it is AWESOME!!!

wood stoves put off TONS of heat...if you've got the time and place to cut wood. It's a lotta work op...but worth it.

the other thing I was thinking is that i've been told it takes two years of being a resident to be able to grow legally in CO.